


Between The Lines

by orphan_account



Category: Ocean's (Movies)
Genre: Coming Out, Implied Relationships, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Other, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 11:36:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14519679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Rusty has something to tell Danny. Communication has always been their strong point.





	Between The Lines

The next time Danny sees Rusty it is at the bar. 

You know, The Bar. The one where it all really started. 

The two of them have an unspoken agreement to be each other's constant. It is a messed up and confusing world out there, but in here at the bar next to each other they are what they are:

Daniel Ocean and Robert Charles Ryan.

Except...look, Danny knows he is the same. Perfect tux, perfectly tousled hair. Imperfect in ways only visible to a knowledgeable few. Danny prides himself in both never aging and aging better than anyone else on the planet. He is cultivated and intentional.

Meanwhile, Rusty is not the same. Sure the garrish silk shirt, all outrageous and shiny and smooth, is the same. His face and body language and presence are the same. But a lot has changed,.

His hair is longer again. His heels are a bit taller. His tailoring has been altered to accentuate his hips and waist.

Not a lot is different, really. Just...small touches. Subtleties that scream at Danny, that gnaw away at him tugging him towards a conclusion, a statement. 

Perfect, manicured nails. Four rings. A scarf. A slight rouge to the lower lip. 

Rusty is exactly the same and yet he is also more than he has ever been.

Realization. This is how their partnership works. 

Danny coughs. 

“Let me say for the record that you’d make an excellent woman. If that’s…” He says.

Rusty slumps a little into his arm.

“Not a woman.” 

Rusty lightens. 

“A man in a dress, then?”

Rusty just shrugs, head tilting almost imperceptibly towards his shoulder. If Danny were anyone else, or if Rusty were anyone else, his meaning wouldn’t have been communicated. Rusty is a near impossible read and Danny isn’t psychic, just able to see what others can’t.

“Huh. Really?”

Rusty doesn’t move.

“Usually people are one the other but…” 

A shrug.

“I guess you could…” 

A nod.

“Both?”

A shake.

“Neither.”

A smile.

“Well shit, just when you think you know somebody.”

Rusty’s smile, hidden in the crook of their arm, warms.

“Hey, you know, it’s just like the Incan Quariwarmi…”

Squint.

“They have special masks for them and everything.”

Sharp look.

“You're right, no masks. What about Isobel?”

Sigh.

“No, of course. She’s a true heterosexual.” 

Slightest eye roll.

“I didn’t know those really existed, either.” 

Smirk.

“Hey, Rusty.”

Rusty freezes, completely still.

“Thanks for telling me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Something self-indulgent that I wrote a while ago. M/NB isn't a tag option YET. I'm convinced Brad Pitt's character is queer in, like, 90% of his work.


End file.
